


better late than never.

by rapunzels



Category: Dawson's Creek
Genre: AU, F/M, Love Rosie AU, jacey au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:20:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29017275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rapunzels/pseuds/rapunzels
Summary: Take a deep breath. Start at the beginning.Tell them that Pacey Witter has been your best friend for as long as you can remember. That you met when you were both five years old, and have been stuck to each other like glue ever since. He’s put up with you all these years --- he’s been there for you through your mom’s death, your dad going to prison, and your sister getting pregnant before she could finish college. Tell them that even though he likes to pretend he doesn’t read much, you two shared a book back and forth whenever he was over after dinner. And that you also share all your dreams with each other.Tell them that this is --- that this has to be --- one of the happiest days of your life.//a jacey au inspired by love, rosie. childhood best friends to lovers slowburn let's goooo
Relationships: Joey Potter/Pacey Witter
Comments: 15
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> listen jacey is my ship and love, rosie is my movie, this was inevitable. enjoy! 
> 
> content warning for a tiny somewhat of a sex scene but nothing happens lmao

Take a deep breath. Start at the beginning.

Tell them that Pacey Witter has been your best friend for as long as you can remember. That you met when you were both five years old, and have been stuck to each other like glue ever since. He’s put up with you all these years --- he’s been there for you through your mom’s death, your dad going to prison, and your sister getting pregnant before she could finish college. Tell them that even though he likes to pretend he doesn’t read much, you two shared a book back and forth whenever he was over after dinner. And that you also share all your dreams with each other.

Tell them that this is --- that this _has_ to be --- one of the happiest days of your life.

* * *

**12 years earlier. Joey’s 18th birthday. Most of which she was too drunk to remember.**

She wasn’t the kind of girl who would normally do this. She was a rule follower, and she always respected any and all authorities. Yes, Joey Potter had spent her whole life being on the good books. But Pacey knew that, and knew _her_ , better than anyone, so of course he somehow managed to swiftly convince her to use a fake ID to get them into a club.

It took some convincing, and Joey almost bailed right when they were next in line at the entrance. But, of course, Pacey played it cool for them both and somehow got them in. She hated being in there. It made her feel gross to break a literal law like that, and the music was way too loud and there were way too many sweaty bodies around her.

And then she got three drinks in. Then four. And a couple shots. And suddenly the place was really, really fun.

She can’t remember much of the night. But Pacey can. Very clearly.

He remembers dancing with her on the dance floor, with Joey screaming way too loudly and excitedly, looking like a total dork. She seemed to love it whenever a Beyoncé song came on, which he never would have guessed. He'd never seen drunk Joey, but he really liked her. She was fun, and a little off her rockers, but he liked seeing her let loose for a change. He remembers the taste of the limes they sucked on before taking the birthday shots given to them by the nice bartender with red hair.

And he remembers how she kissed him.

Yes, he’d been drunk, too, but he’d had a little more experience with alcohol than his best friend, so he’d been able to keep himself a little more together. However, he was tipsy when she leaned her forehead onto his, which is probably why he didn’t pull away. But she hadn’t either. And suddenly the music started to fade away, despite the fact that it was blasting. He could feel her breath on his face, and could smell the alcohol clearly, which made him smile. He had leaned in slightly, tentatively, and then regained himself for a moment and stopped. But then she kissed him. And she didn’t pull away. He tried to lean in again, too drunk off the alcohol and the moment.  
  
But then Joey fell off her chair and he had to carry her home.

* * *

“It was totally all my fault, Bessie, I promise,” Pacey says as soon as the Potter door finally opens the next morning.

“Oh, I know that,” Bessie says with a humorless chuckle. “So if you think _I’m_ gonna be the one to take care of hungover Joey, you are sadly mistaken. Get in here.”

Pacey follows her orders and closes the door behind him. “Way ahead of you, Bess,” he says as he shows her his bag full of take out bacon and greasy food. “I’m sorry again.”

“You better be. You are not doing that ever again,” Bessie threatens, though she cares about him too much to really be scary about it. “You’re lucky I’m even allowing you in here. She’s a good girl, Pacey. And I’ve always known you would be the one to unravel her, but I was hoping she’d be able to make you pleasant first.”

“That’s where you went wrong,” he teases, throwing her an innocent smile before he finally walks into Joey’s room.

“Why were you two shouting out there?” his best friend asks from under her covers.

Pacey chuckles easily, setting her food down before taking a seat on the edge of her bed. “Good morning, sunshine. Speaking of, should I open your blinds here?”

Joey peeks her face from under her covers. “You touch those and I will punch you where it hurts, Pace.”

He laughs, throwing his hands up in defense. Joey grumbles as she sits herself up, hand to her head to probably try to stop it from spinning.

“God, I’m so embarrassed about last night,” she says, her face scrunched up.

Pacey adjusts his posture, clearing his throat before speaking. “You don’t have to be,” he answers quickly, throwing her a smile. He didn’t think they would talk about it so soon, but he had been planning on what to say all the way over here.

He had been in love with Joey since before he even knew what being in love meant. He hadn’t really acknowledged it until last night, when it all clicked as soon as their lips touched, but he’s known it for a while. She had always been there, a welcome and necessary escape from everyone else in the world who didn’t get him like she did --- especially his family. She made him laugh, she believed in him, encouraged him to be better. She was kind, smart, and, damn, she was so fucking beautiful. How could he _not_ be in love with her? When she kissed him, everything felt right. _She liked him, too._ And it was the final push he needed to finally come clean about his feelings.

“I behaved so badly!” Joey retorts, snapping him back to reality. “It was awful. I wanna puke even thinking about it.”

He can’t help the way his face falls. “W-Which part?” he asks, not sure if he even wanted to know the answer.

“All of it,” Joey answers easily, and Pacey feels like he’s been gutted. “It never happened, okay?”

Pacey looks at his hands, trying to hide the clear hurt on his face. “Yeah, okay.” He should have known better. Should have known it was just the alcohol, which somehow blurred his face and made her believe she was kissing someone else. Someone better. Because why would Joey Potter ever love him back? 

“How did we even get home last night?” Joey asks, oblivious to what just happened. 

Pacey clears his throat, regaining himself. He’ll sulk later. “Gretchen picked us up. Bessie’s real mad at me, though. Says I’m a terrible influence.”

“Well, you are,” Joey teases with a smile.

“Please,” Pacey scoffs dramatically. “Your life wouldn’t be half as much fun without me.”

She laughs. “It also wouldn’t be half as difficult.”

* * *

**A month later. They hadn't spoken of Joey's birthday since.**

“So,” Joey says as she takes a seat beside Pacey at the cafeteria. “The weirdest thing just happened.”

Pacey encourages her to continue with a nod, too busy with his sandwich to speak.

“Do you know Dawson Leery?” Joey asks as she opens her drink.

“That weird film geek that lives down the creek from you?” Pacey questions after finally swallowing. Joey nods through an eye roll. “Yeah, sure. He just started working with me. Why?”

“He asked me to go to the dance with him,” she admits a little shyly.

Pacey feels his last bite almost come back up his throat. “What? Why?” Joey looks at him with an offended look, and he instantly backtracks. “What did you say?”

“No, obviously. I’m going with you.”

Pacey lets out a breath of relief he didn’t know he had been holding. “Oh. Well, good, then.”

Before Joey has a chance to say anything else, a foreign voice interrupts them.

“Hey, Pacey,” a blonde she’s never talked to before says with a smile, and Pacey turns up to smile back.

“Hey, Andie. What’s up?”

“Just checking if we’re still on for tonight."

“Of course. Can’t wait to demolish that Shakespeare,” Pacey jokes, and Andie laughs a little too much for Joey’s liking.

“Great, I’ll see you then.” Andie throws Pacey another toothy grin and walks away to her table.

“Who was that?” Joey instantly asks as soon as the blonde is out of earshot.

“Oh. That was Andie,” Pacey answers with a shrug. “She’s helping me with English homework.”

“Wow,” Joey says under her breath, a little hurt. He knows English is her favorite subject and she would have been happy to have helped him if he asked. But apparently she didn’t fit the cute blonde requirements Pacey now has for his tutors. “Well, she’s cute,” she says instead, trying not to sound too bitter.

Pacey instantly notices her shift in mood, but decides not to look too into it. Instead, he tells her, “She’s been dropping hints about taking her to the dance.”

Joey almost spits the drink she was sipping, but manages to swallow before making a scene. “Huh,” she says, attempting to look as cool as possible. Who was _she_ to be jealous? “Well, you should.”

Pacey’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “Who would _you_ go with, then?” He tries to play it off as a joke, but Joey is too stubborn and prideful for her own good.

“I can go with Dawson,” she replies easily, avoiding eye contact. “I’m sure he hasn’t had any other offers.”

Pacey tries not to look as hurt as he felt. “Well, then, maybe I will.”

“Good. You should.”

They eat the rest of their lunch in stubborn silence.

* * *

PACEY says: Guess what?

JOEY says: I’m busy right now, Pace. I know you don’t care, but we have a big Science quiz tomorrow.

PACEY says: Is it about biology? ‘Cause my news has something to do with that, too. ;)

JOEY says: Just because of that, I really don’t wanna know.

PACEY says: Oh, c’mon, Potter. It’s a big milestone.

JOEY says: Fine. What is it?

PACEY says: Guess who is no longer a virgin? :)

 **[DELETED MESSAGE]** JOEY says: What?!

 **[DELETED MESSAGE]** JOEY says: No way.

 **[DELETED MESSAGE]** JOEY says: Shit.

JOEY says: Who’s the unlucky lady?

 **[DELETED MESSAGE]** JOEY says: Please don’t say Andie.

PACEY says: My lovely date to the dance.

 **[DELETED MESSAGE]** JOEY says: Fuck.

She avoids him for a week or so after that.

* * *

On the night of the dance, Joey opens her door to a desperate Pacey.

“I know you’re ignoring me for some reason, but I really need help with my tie,” he says with an innocent smile.

She hesitates, but she can’t resist. She lets him in.

In her bedroom, Pacey adjusts his collar. “So, are you ever gonna give me an explanation for the silent treatment?” he asks, catching her eye in the mirror.

Joey quickly drops his gaze, focusing on zipping up her dress. “Just an off week, I guess.”

“And it had nothing to do with me and Andie?”

She sighs, turning her back to him so he can’t see her face and know that she’s obviously lying through her teeth. “Nope.”

“Good, then. I was beginning to think you were in love with me or something,” Pacey teases, even though he regrets the words as soon as they leave his mouth.

Joey scoffs dramatically, keeping her cool as best as possible. “Please, Pace. Don’t flatter yourself.”

“Listen, Jo, I know boy and girl friendships can get complicated, but I hope you know that I’m always here for you,” he says genuinely.

“Great. Can you help me with this zipper, then?”

He chuckles as he goes over her to do what he’s told. “Yes, ma’am.”

His hand is cold on her bare skin, and Joey can’t help the shudder she lets out at his touch. God, this was embarrassing. As soon as she knows her dress is zipped up, she instantly steps away and clears her throat awkwardly. “Thanks.”

Pacey is a little stunned, not sure about what to do with all the butterflies in his stomach right now. That was the first time he’d been that close to Joey since her 18th birthday when they… Well. “No problem.”

She turns around and he finally gets a proper look at her. She's wearing a beautiful red dress, and her hair is tied in a low bun that shows off her earrings. She's even wearing her special bracelet, the one her mom gave her before she passed away. Pacey probably looks like a deer in the headlights staring at her. He'd never seen her this dressed up before, and she... Well, she looked beautiful. 

"Shall we?" Joey asks, reaching for her things.

Pacey shakes his head slightly, forcing himself out of her spell. "Yep. Yeah. After you."

* * *

The dance isn’t as fun as Joey had hoped. At all, really.

This Dawson kid was kind of a bore. He just kept talking to her about 80’s movies and Steven Spielberg, and then telling her about all of his own movie ideas like it was a pitch meeting. She kept looking over at Pacey practically every five minutes, hoping he’d read her mind and come save her, but he was always too busy having fun with Andie.

Joey had never really seen Pacey like _that_. Like someone more than a friend. They’d grown up together, and she honestly can’t remember when he wasn’t in her life. She was insanely grateful, but that also meant that they had shared more than their fair share of awkward and embarrassing life moments together. She always knew something _could_ happen once they were teenagers, with raging hormones and growing pains, but not much has happened. Sometimes she would catch him looking at her with some soft eyes, and they’d often hold hands when she’s cold, but none of that ever meant anything. At least, that’s what she had thought at the time.

But tonight, seeing him with someone else, being all romantic and sweet and happy… Joey felt a pain in her chest she’d never experienced before. But she was pretty sure it was jealousy.

Her analyzing mind was quick to try to brush it off as just feeling sad that her best friend had finally found someone else to spend time with, as well as ditching their plans to go to this thing together --- though she _had_ kind of forced him to. Still, when she looks over and catches Pacey and Andie kissing on the dance floor, Joey feels like someone punched her in the chest. 

She's not very fond of this feeling.

* * *

She doesn’t know how it happens. It was a stupid decision, driven by jealousy, pettiness, and her desire to prove something to herself --- and a certain boy. But somehow Joey finds herself in bed with Dawson Leery.

Sex had been weighing on her mind for a while. She was a senior after all, and still a virgin -- something a lot of the assholes at school always liked to remind her. She’d just been hoping to save herself for someone special, which was an ironic thing to remember as she lied in bed waiting for _Dawson_ , of all people, to put on a condom.

“Do you need any help?” Joey offers awkwardly. To her relief he says no. (As if she’d know what to do anyways.)

After a few tries, he finally seems ready, and Joey just lies down as he inserts himself into her with a little struggle. She doesn’t really know what she’s supposed to be doing, but Dawson keeps moaning so she must be doing something right. She’s not sure if she should be feeling the same kind of euphoria Dawson seems to be, given that she’s not really feeling much at all. But maybe her part comes later. She silently beats herself up for never doing proper research.

But then, after literally 30 seconds, may she add, Dawson cums and lies down beside her, breathless. Apparently, it was over.

Huh?

“That was so nice,” he tells her, brushing his hair out of his face.

She’s not really sure what she’s supposed to say here. She was literally still wearing a bra. So she just goes “Uh huh,” out of pity.

But something didn’t feel right, and it wasn’t just the fact that she had bad sex. Joey gets up, suddenly worried. “Wait…” She checks his naked body before asking, panicked, “Dawson, where’s the condom?”

* * *

This could _not_ be happening.

“Oh my god,” Joey says under her breath, rushing to the elevator. Her hands were shaking so much she could barely press the number pad on her phone correctly. “Pick up, pick up…”

“Hey!” She hears Pacey say over the phone, and she instantly lets out a breath of relief. “Where did you go? Is Joey Potter off getting lucky?” he teasingly asks her.

“The opposite actually,” she says, dreading this conversation. “I ---” Just then the elevator dings and a man in a nice suit gets in beside her. Joey curses under breath. “Pacey, I need your help.”

“What’s going on?” She hears him shuffle around, and the loud song playing on the dance floor gets quieter.

“I need you to drive me somewhere. Now.”

“What? Why? Are you okay?” He sounds genuinely worried.

“I’m fine,” Joey is quick to reassure him. “I just got something stuck. Somewhere.” She sneaks a glance at her present company, embarrassed.

Pacey laughs on the other side of the phone. “What are you talking about, Jo?”

“Look, I ---”

“Can’t Dawson drive you?”

“Not really. He’s the one who ---”

“Oh, so you admit you’re off with him, huh?”

“Pacey!” Joey yells, forgetting where she is. “The condom got lost inside my vagina and at present I am unable to locate it!”

Just then, the elevator doors finally open up to the lobby. She knows the poor man beside her has wide eyes of pure shock at what he just heard. And to top it all off, Pacey is there to greet her.

He disconnects their call. “I really didn’t need _that_ much information.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joey Potter hadn’t been feeling the greatest.
> 
> She wasn’t sure what it was, exactly, but ever since that cursed night where she had to go to the hospital for having a condom stuck inside her vagina, she hadn’t been having the best time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm having way too much fun with this i'm so sorry HAHAHA
> 
> content warning for nsfw talk but that's a given after the last chapter

Joey Potter hadn’t been feeling the greatest.

She wasn’t sure what it was, exactly, but ever since that cursed night where she had to go to the hospital for having a condom stuck inside her vagina, she hadn’t been having the best time. Perhaps it was due to the fact that _that_ had happened, but, to be honest, she quickly learned to laugh about it --- with Pacey’s help, of course.

He’d driven her home that night and asked no questions, to her relief. It hadn’t been the most comfortable of situations, and she never wanted to speak to Pacey about _that_ area of her body ever --- but especially not right now. They let the radio fill the inside of his truck, and Joey looked out the window, wearing his suit jacket around her shoulders because she’d been in such a rush to get out of that hotel room that she hadn’t noticed she didn’t have one until they stepped outside.

He parks outside her house, and the radio goes out when he turns the ignition off. Joey sighs, the silence annoying her, but she was blanking on anything to say.

Thankfully, Pacey does. “You know that didn’t count, right?”

She turns her head to face him, her expression nothing but confusion. “What?”

“The sex. It doesn’t count,” he repeats.

Joey furrows her brows, trying her best not to smile. “Pace, he couldn’t have lost the condom in there otherwise.”

“Well, sure, but if it wasn’t what you wanted then it doesn’t have to count.”

“Since when?”

“Since always. Virginity is a man made concept anyway,” Pacey answers with a shrug. Then he clears his throat, his expression a bit more serious. “Was it good? Before… You know?”

Joey uses a hand to cover her face. “Pace, I don’t wanna talk about it with you.”

“Why not?” he asks, genuinely curious.

“Because!” And Joey leaves it at that, hoping that it’s enough. It’s not. Pacey simply keeps staring at her with raised brows until she gives in with a groan. “It’s not like I have much to compare it to,” she says lamely.

“Fair,” Pacey agrees, and Joey slaps his arm with a gasp. He chuckles before continuing, “Hey, I didn’t know you wanted this to happen for you _tonight!_ If you’d told me I could’ve helped you prepare.”

“Oh, really? You have sex _once_ and suddenly you’re the expert?” she teasingly questions, though it’s still awkward for them to really talk about it.

“Jo, come on. You know what I mean.”   
  
She raises her brows once again. “No. What?”

He raises his brows back. She leans her head in. He leans his.

“Come on, Potter.”

She’s starting to get a bit flustered, despite her best efforts. He’s leaning in way too close. She’s still not sure what he means, because it certainly couldn’t mean what she _thinks_ he means. Though he _is_ close enough to her lips for it to be a possibility.

But then Pacey swerves, going past her lips and to her ear, before whispering, “Porn, Jo.”

She processes what he said and instantly pushes him away from her face, slapping his chest while he laughs like an idiot. “Pacey, gross!” Joey yells at him. “You’re disgusting if you think I’d ever..." She shudders dramatically.

“I don’t mean watch them _with_ me! Who do you think I am?”

“A pervert, that’s what.”

“Alright, prude.”

She opens her mouth in shock. “You literally just drove me home from the hospital where ---”

Pacey cuts her off. “Yeah, yeah, I know what happened, Jo. Trust me, I don’t need a reminder.” She rolls her eyes at his comment, but she gets it. “What _really_ matters,” he changes the subject effortlessly, though Joey is certain this is where he had wanted the conversation to steer to all along, “Is if our boy Dawson Leery was able to last more than two minutes in the sack.”

Joey gapes at her best friend, who simply looks back at her with curious eyes. She shakes her head, not daring to speak. Wordlessly, Pacey pouts.

She groans. She was so weak. “Like, thirty seconds,” she admits, avoiding his gaze.

At that, Pacey absolutely breaks, practically losing his mind. Joey is annoyed at first, almost wanting to step out of the car, but she isn’t strong enough to not laugh with him eventually --- especially after the night she had. Plus, Pacey’s laugh had always been contagious. And then suddenly they’re both delirious for a nice minute, where she forgets everything and just laughs with her best friend in the world.

It dies down, finally, and they’re both left staring at each other, big smiles still on their faces.

Joey doesn’t know why, but it slips out of her in a moment of honesty, “I’m sorry if I ruined your night.”

“You didn’t,” Pacey is quick to assure her. “You’re fine. And you needed me. Andie understood.”

“Right.” Joey hates how she freezes every time she hears the blonde’s name. “Well, thank you. For being there.”

“Of course.” Pacey reaches out his hand, palm up, and Joey smiles instantly. She intertwines their fingers, her warm hand instantly being cooled by his. It was something they’d done during sweet bonding moments ever since they were little kids, and she loves having that with him and no one else.

They smile at each other, keeping eye contact for probably a second too long.

“Goodnight, Pace.”

“Goodnight, Jo. Pray you’re not pregnant,” he teases, and she slams the car door dramatically in response, rolling her eyes.

* * *

She really should have taken his advice and prayed.

She instantly knows it a few days later, when she wakes up thanks to her immense desire to hurl for about twenty minutes before the sun has even risen. So, Joey decides to stop by a small little pharmacy on her way home from school, hoping that she was simply overreacting and had nothing to worry about.

There’s a blonde girl behind the counter about her age, which Joey finds a little strange --- but then again, she’d prefer to keep this as lowkey as possible, so she doesn't question it. “Hey,” she says. “I’m looking for something to help me out, I’ve been feeling really sick the past few days.”

The blonde looks up from her magazine with effort, sighing before reaching for a yellow note pad. “Symptoms?” she reads off in a monotone.

“Um, I don’t know,” Joey says, looking behind her shoulders to make sure no one else was in the store. “Throwing up, feeling nauseous, weird appetite, stuff like that.”

The other girl raises her brows. “When was your last period, babe?” She seems to have become interested now.

Joey clears her throat. “What? Why?”

The girl turns around to grab something in the back wall, then turns back to Joey with an apologetic look. “There’s a bathroom here if you want,” she whispers, and Joey looks down to see her handing her a pregnancy test.  
  
“No,” the brunette is quick to say. “No way. I barely even… Nope. Not possible.”

“Only one way to find out,” the blonde tells her, and Joey sighs, a little exasperated.

“Fine. Just to confirm that there’s no way in hell that it’s true.”

* * *

“I’m Audrey, by the way,” Joey hears the other girl say from the other side of the bathroom door. “Don’t worry, I’ve had this scare, like, ten times at this point. Usually it’s nothing.”

Joey laughs humorlessly from inside the bathroom, setting the test down on the sink and then setting the timer on her phone. She opens the door, needing to pass time quickly so she didn’t actually lose her mind. “I’m Joey,” she answers. “And this has never happened to me. Ever. Nothing even in the same wheelhouse.”

“You’re not the next virgin Mary, are you?” Audrey questions, really only half-joking. “If you are, we’re officially friends now. I _need_ to be featured in the next Bible. I was basically born to be worshipped.”

Joey wants to laugh, but it comes out sounding more like a panicked yelp. This whole situation was insane, and so, _so_ unlike her. It absolutely could not be real. She even pinches herself in the arm, but unfortunately, it wasn’t a dream.

“Alright, okay,” Audrey says, tentatively touching Joey’s arm. “I get it, this is a little crazy. But even if you are… _you know_ \--- there’s options. You don’t need to be a teen mom or anything.”

“Well, technically,” Joey can’t help herself. “I’d be 18 by the time the baby is born, so I wouldn’t be a _teen_ mom.”

Audrey rolls her eyes. “Ah, you’re one of those people.”

“What people?” Joey questions, but then she’s interrupted by the timer going off on her phone. She freezes, not knowing what to expect. Her whole life could change in this moment. All her plans could be tossed out the window, and all because she wanted to prove something to… who, exactly? 

She actually couldn't believe that this was happening to her. Bessie was going to _freak_. Like, absolutely freak like Joey had never seen before, probably. Because how _dare_ Joey not learn anything from Bessie's mistakes? How dare she be so irresponsible? She was supposed to be the good one, the smart one, the one that would make it out of Cape Side and into the big world and make it her own. She was waiting for her acceptance letter to pretty big ivy league schools, and there was good chance she was getting in to most of them. She was top of her class. She was Joey Potter, the golden girl. She had her whole life mapped out.

And being a mom was _not_ a part of her plan.

God, what would _Pacey_ say? They had been looking forward to getting out of this dead-end town for years now, running away together to Boston and never looking back. She couldn't make him wait for her, or abandon his future. He deserved to do it all, with or without her.

“Come on, Joey,” Audrey nudges her softly on her shoulder, bringing her back to reality. “You’ll be fine.”

She throws a smile at the stranger, now friend, before taking a deep final breath. Then she turns over the pregnancy test.

**Positive.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Holy shit,” Joey whispers, all the pieces finally clicking. “Oh my god. The first time I have sex and I get pregnant?!”
> 
> “That was your first time?” Audrey echoes in shock. Joey nods, too stunned to be embarrassed. Audrey finally straightens up from leaning against a wall, and cautiously puts an arm around her. “What are you gonna do?”
> 
> “I have no fucking idea.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hiii omg i'm sorry it took me a bit to update this, i was focusing on my new girl jacey au (pls go read that if u haven't! it's called i'm okay because i met you.) aaaand also this airport scene was probably one of the hardest things i've ever had to write. like, if you've seen love, rosie, you KNOW what i'm talking about. that scene is literal pure perfection and i had no idea how to even begin to put it into words so i was stumped for a bit. i tried my best though aaaagh i hope you guys are liking this fic! let me know <3

“This can’t be happening,” Joey keeps repeating under her breath, pacing back and forth in the back hallway of the corner store. “I was on birth control!”

“Only 90% effective, babe,” Audrey tells her with a genuine sad look in her eyes.

“ _And_ a condom!”

“Well, did you check to see if it was expired?”

Joey halts. “I… I mean, _I_ didn’t.”

“Oh, honey,” Audrey sighs. “This is why I always say girls should carry their own condoms.”

“Well, the condom also —” Joey cuts herself off, wondering if she should even share this private information with a girl she met only 20 minutes ago. But Audrey actually seemed invested and willing to support her, despite the bitchy exterior she put up when Joey first walked in. Besides, who else was she gonna talk to? Joey couldn’t even dare to think about telling this to Bessie right now, or — _God_ —- Pacey. “The condom came off inside me,” she finally admits.

Audrey has to very clearly hold back a laugh. “Oh God. I’m so sorry, but come on, that’s…” She stops herself, due to Joey’s desperate eyes. “Sorry. Look, I’m no Einstein, but I think that might be why, Joey.”

“But —-“

“Did he cum inside you?”

Joey freezes. “Yeah.”

“If the condom was put on badly enough that it came off, then it probably did so before he came. And, well…”

For some reason, this was the one thing that Joey’s straight-A, honor roll brain just did not get until it was laid out plainly in front of her. “Holy shit,” she whispers, all the pieces finally clicking. “Oh my god. The first time I have sex and I get pregnant?!”

“That was your _first time_ _?_ ” Audrey echoes in shock. Joey nods, too stunned to be embarrassed. Audrey finally straightens up from leaning against a wall, and cautiously puts an arm around her. “What are you gonna do?”

“I have no fucking idea.”

* * *

 **JOEY says:** Pace, can we meet?

 **JOEY says:** It’s really important.

 **PACEY says:** i wish i could but andie and her family are taking me out tonight

 **PACEY says:** we’re going out to a fancy restaurant and i need to look presentable

 **PACEY says:** is a tie too much?

 ** _[DELETED MESSAGE]_ JOEY says:** FUCK YOU AND FUCK ANDIE AND FUCK HER FAMILY AND FUCK YOUR FANCY RESTAURANT AND FUCK YOUR TIE

 ** _[DELETED MESSAGE]_ JOEY says:** I HAVE A FUCKING BABY ON THE WAY!!!!

 **JOEY says:** Definitely too much.

 **JOEY says:** Have fun.

* * *

Joey gets a letter in the mail two days later. Full scholarship to her dream university. Too bad the news never reaches anyone else but her.

She tells Bessie about the pregnancy first, since she can’t seem to get a proper hold of Pacey. She really wanted him there for moral support, but he was always too busy with his new girlfriend to give her much more than a wave across the hallway or a text here and there.

Bessie doesn’t take it well. She goes off on Joey about how she should have known better or learned from Bessie’s own mistakes, and how disappointed their mom would have been if she was still around. It ends with Joey in tears, slamming her door and crying until she passes out.

Bodie wakes her up gently the next day, and even lets her skip school. He tells her that everything will be okay and work itself out, and that he and Bessie are the prime example of that. He apologizes on behalf of her older sister and assures Joey that she’ll come around in a few days. They’ll always be there to help her just like she helped them.

Joey spends most of the day in bed, not knowing what to make of herself. She was heavily leaning towards giving the baby up for adoption. There was just no way she could raise a human being right now —- they barely had enough money to scrape by as it is. Plus, she had her whole life ahead of her. Maybe she could put off Boston for a semester, give the baby away, and then go off and live her life exactly as she had been planning for the past four years. How much of a setback could six months be, really?

* * *

She’s drawing on a napkin with the pen she carries everywhere when Pacey finally shows up. He basically runs into her chair, laughing as he takes a seat across the table from her.

“Jeez, Pace,” Joey yelps with a shake of her head.

“Hi, hey, hello,” he greets her, leaning over the table to place a kiss on her forehead.

Joey hasn’t felt his comfort in what seemed like ages, and especially during the most difficult time of her life so far, it is almost enough to make her unravel right there in that very public coffee shop. But she’d been crying practically every night (hell, she cried on the way there), so lucky for her, she was all emptied out at the moment. Though her eyes were definitely red and puffy and gave her away.

“So, I have news,” Pacey announces with a grin. He seemed to be carrying a letter.

Joey sighs. “I have news, too.” She’d been rehearsing on what to say for the past two days, but she still didn’t really know if any of it would actually leave her mouth.

Pacey barely hears her, too excited as he hands over the letter. “Read it,” he tells her.

She’s trying her best not to kill the mood, but she’s pretty sure that her news is a little bigger and more important than whatever arrived in his mail. But then she feels awful for being selfish enough to think that, especially since Pacey can’t stop smiling at her. So she does what she’s told and reads the letter.

Her eyes practically bulge out. “Wait, what?!” Joey exclaims. “You got into Worthington?”

“Yes, ma’am, I did. _And_ with some scholarship money,” Pacey brags, grinning.

“Oh my god, Pace. That’s… That’s incredible.” She means it.

“Yeah, Andie has really helped me out the last four months. And _you_ , for the past God knows how many years.”

Joey feels really shitty being the second mention, but she has bigger things to worry about. She musters up her best smile. “This is all you, Pace. You always had it in you.”

He gives her his trademark soft smile, the one that she’s grown to know meant that she said something way too nice that he doesn’t really believe, but deep down, really wants to. “Thanks, Jo. God, can you believe it? We’re actually gonna get out of this stupid dead end town, just like we always said we would.”

Joey feels like she’s been punched in the gut. Technically he’s right—- he just doesn’t know he’ll have to wait a little longer for her to catch up due to unforeseen circumstances. “Yeah,” she manages to croak out. “What about Andie?” She can’t help asking to stall a little.

“Oh, she got into Harvard with ease,” he brags on behalf of his girlfriend. Then, he seems to notice that Joey is… off (to say the least), so his voice becomes a little softer as he asks, “You really haven’t heard from _anywhere_ yet?”

“Nope,” she lies with a shrug.

Pacey raises his brow. Joey had never been a good liar, and he’d known her for way too long. But for some reason, he lets it go. “I’m sure you will. Don’t worry, Jo. I’m not going anywhere without you.”

Her heart has never hurt like this.

“What was your news?” Pacey asks, finally settling down.

 _She can’t do it._ “Nothing,” she assures him, and goes back to her napkin drawing.

* * *

When they were 15 years old and dealing with pimples, puberty, and fellow devilish teenagers with off the charts hormones, Pacey and Joey decided on a plan.

“Once we’re old enough, we should just run away and never look back,” Pacey tells her while they’re sitting on a bench after school, sharing some leftover Halloween candy Joey brought.

“What?” she asks him with furrowed brows. “Run where?”

“Anywhere but here,” he answers simply. “There’s nothing in this town worth staying for.”

Joey is about to retort and say _family_ , but she knows that’s mostly what Pacey is running away from. Besides, Bessie and Bodie would be fine without her once Alexander is a bit older and doesn’t need babysitting so often. So Joey nods. “You might actually be right.”

“I say we get on a boat and sail off into the sunset,” Pacey offers with a smile.

She laughs, shaking her head at his imagination. “Yeah, right.”

“I’m gonna learn how to sail!” he protests. “And I’m sure I can buy a boat and fix it up real good. Just watch me.”

“Sure, sailor,” Joey teases before taking a bite of her chocolate. “Or, you know, we could go to college together like normal people.”

“Please, like you and I would ever get into the same college. We’re literally on the two different ends of the academic spectrum.”

“That’s only because you allow yourself to be pigeon holed like that, Pace. You _know_ that you’re capable of more.”

“Well, I wish I knew what the hell that was,” he says a bit sadly, making Joey pout.

“I mean, I hear university is all about figuring yourself out. And it would be nice if we could do that together.” She catches his eye and throws him a genuine smile. “But, hey, if all else fails, I’ll make sure to have a guest room for you in my apartment in Paris,” Joey assures him, hoping the little joke would lift his spirits.

Thankfully, he does chuckle. “What would I do without you, Potter?”

“Let’s not even go there, Pace. It would be a dark reality.” She holds out her pinky with a grin. “College together?”

He sighs. If they were being realistic, they would know that Pacey’s grades were too far gone to ever suddenly reach the same level as Joey. That, if anything, he’d be lucky to even graduate. But Joey’s smiling so wide, and it’s nice to believe in something, no matter how far-fetched it might be. He intertwines their pinkies. “College together,” he agrees.

* * *

“Alright, don’t get into a plane crash.”

“Jeez, Jo, way to jinx it,” Pacey teases with a shake of his head.

“I’m serious. You always seem to get into the worst situations, and I simply won’t deal with you pulling a _Lost_ on me.” Joey is rambling and not making any sense. She knows that. She still hasn’t told Pacey about the baby, and they’re nearing his airport gate right now. Andie had already left for Harvard and he was gonna meet her at the Boston airport, so Joey had been stuck to send him off alone. Okay, she wasn’t _stuck_ , she obviously wanted to be here, but the guilt was overwhelming.

“Jo, are you okay?” Pacey is chuckling, but it’s clear there’s real concern in his face. He makes her stop and puts down his bags in order to hold her steady, forcing her to meet his eyes.

“Of course,” she lies. She’d been getting better at it lately. “Just can’t believe I’m gonna be without you.”

“Please, you’re coming in three weeks,” Pacey reminds her, and Joey has to fight every urge to grimace. “It’ll go by so fast, you’ll barely notice I’m gone.”

She throws him her best smile, nodding along to his words of encouragement. She won’t cry --- she _can’t_ cry --- until he’s out of sight. So she swallows hard before finally making sincere eye contact. “Don’t have too much fun without me.”

Pacey chuckles. “I could never, Potter. C’mere.” He pulls her into a tight hug, and Joey has to stand on her tiptoes in order to properly wrap her arms around his neck. His hand is in her hair, encouraging her to find her usual place in the crook of his neck, and she breathes him in like it’s the last time she’ll ever get to. She knows that’s not true, because there’s no life of hers worth living without Pacey Witter around to some degree, but she’s scared shitless. She has no idea what’s next for her, and she wishes she could fast forward through all this uncertainty and come out on the other side, going to college with her best friend like she promised. Or better yet, she wishes she could go back in time and never sleep with Dawson Leery in the first place.

God, she hadn’t even _told_ Dawson.

But that was a worry for another time. Right now, she was in Pacey’s arms, and he deserved a proper goodbye before she disappeared for the next eight months with no explanation. She’ll blame it on family problems, which won’t be a total lie.

She caresses his hair while tightening the hug, and then, because she might never let him leave if she doesn’t end it, she finally makes herself pull away. Her forehead lingers on his, though, their eyes still closed. They’ve never had to do this. They’ve never really been away from each other since they were kids, and even when they were fighting, they were still forced to see each other at school every day. This was different. This was _real_.

Honestly? Pacey didn’t want to go. If Joey had asked him to stay and leave with her instead, he would’ve done it without a second thought. He didn’t know why she was being so weird about this, assuring him she needed to deal with some stuff before coming to meet him there. He wanted to grab her hand and make her board the plane with him. _We said we were gonna do this together, remember?_

But his forehead on hers is reminiscent of a certain moment during a birthday party, and all of the sudden Pacey forgets every uncertainty, every question, every plea he wants to say to her, and all he can think about is her lips on his. The taste of alcohol, the smile he could feel after they finally kissed, the butterflies in his stomach --- and _especially_ the way he wanted nothing more than to kiss her again ever since. Yes, even though he was dating someone else, and yes, even though he did genuinely like Andie. Him and Joey were just… complicated. And forever there, in the back of his mind. It wasn’t fair, he knew that. To anyone. But what exactly could he do about it?

He wants to kiss her _right now_. He feels his jaw clench, he feels their noses brush. He feels her breath on his skin, only this time it doesn’t smell like vodka, but like her peppermint gum. Her hands are still in his hair. His are still on her hips. He forgets that they’re even in a public place, and he loses himself for a moment, feeling his lips move slightly closer to hers.

This time, Joey isn’t plastered. She feels the way he leans in. And if she were completely honest, if she hadn’t been pregnant with another man’s baby right now, she would have closed the gap between their lips and kissed him senseless. It’s what she’s been wanting to do for a while; it’s what got her into this mess in the first place. She was so jealous of someone else getting to be with Pacey that she went to bed with the first guy she saw to try to feel better. Well, lesson learned, universe.

However, there are still consequences she has to deal with, and if she were to kiss Pacey right now, it would just make everything so much more complicated. And extremely more difficult. So, as hard as it is for her to do it, she swallows hard and actually pulls away from him, looking up with sorry eyes. _One day he'll understand._ Her finger traces his chin, and she boops his nose to tease him and try to relieve the tension. Thankfully, Pacey does crack a smile, even though she knows him too well and can tell it’s fake.

“Keep in touch, okay?” she whispers.

Pacey nods, trying to shake himself back into harsh reality. “Will do, Jo.” He gathers his things again and then makes his way through the gate, making sure to look back a couple times and wave to her as he does.

Joey watches him go, feeling her heart sink lower and lower with every step he takes. She keeps herself together, waving back at him until he’s completely out of sight.

Then instantly races over to the nearest bathroom stall where she can cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you caught the little mentions to canon let me know ;)


End file.
